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Volunteers reporting on community issues in Monument, Palmer Lake, and the surrounding Tri-Lakes area

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Letters to Our Community – Freedom of speech

Freedom of speech

A social media troll shares unwelcome content within an online conversation to purposefully instigate an argument with one or more people. It is dangerous to young and old alike, and we see it every day.

It is not always protected by the First Amendment freedom of speech, as some would have you believe; it is fair in politics and elections particularly.

Examples of speech that may be limited: true threats, incitement, unlawful conduct: such as advocating violations of private life, defamation, hate speech, obscenity, pornography, public order, national security, classified information, trade secrets, or copyright violations.

Our national elections are coming, and trolling is rising to an epidemic level. Please vote and consider as a factor in your ballot decisions the honor, integrity, and ethics of each candidate and issue, no matter the level of trolling we are exposed to.

Thanks for your consideration.

Gordon Reichal

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Disclaimer: The information and opinions expressed in Letters to Our Community are the responsibility of the letter writers and should not be interpreted as the views of OCN even if the letter writer is an OCN volunteer. When there is more than one letter, the letters are arranged in alphabetical order based on the last name of the author.

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Letters to Our Community – Remembering and honoring those who fought for our freedoms

Many thanks to those Monument and northern El Paso County community members who showed up to honor our fallen veterans on a beautiful sunny day on Memorial Day 2024. We all could have been elsewhere relaxing, preparing for a barbecue, shopping, hiking, etc. But each person took the time, mostly to honor people we never knew, and to remind the world that those veterans made a difference for our country.

OCN reported the crowd at hundreds, but it would have been nice to see thousands. Even in a highly concentrated military community, as we drift farther away from U.S. military engagements overseas, there seems to be less interest in remembering those who achieved those freedoms. That saddens me. In my father’s generation, “The Greatest Generation,” and himself a proud WWII Marine, 14 of 14 of my family’s male members served in the military. In our next generation, Baby Boomers, it was only 1 of 40. Of the Millennial children of my immediate family, so far only 2 of 18. Service to our country makes a huge difference in how someone views our nation, the world, and the values and truths enshrined in our Constitution.

If you look at the stats, the vast majority of our fallen soldiers were very young, probably averaging in their early 20s. They had their entire lives in front of them, yet most chose to voluntarily put their life in danger to fight for freedoms of religion, speech, press, to gather, and not just for our country but for others around the globe. After the ceremony, I walked throughout Monument Cemetery and was amazed to see the faded and simple gravestones from Civil War veterans who were buried there. Soldiers from Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Colorado, and other states. They each fought in our internal conflict over 160 years ago. I was proud to be among those who, in less than an hour, honored the memory of young heroes who lost decades of their lives for me.

Patrick Kiernan

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Letters to Our Community – LPHS After Prom thanks

Thanks to our great community of parents, LP staff, and students, After Prom 2024 was a huge success! We had approximately 450+ students attend the event themed “Around the World in 80 Days.

Many school districts do not offer an After Prom, as the planning and coordination involve a substantial amount of time and money. Both District 38 high schools have such a dedicated group of staff, parents, and community patrons that we have been able to make After Prom a yearly tradition.

Much of the financial support comes from family, community, and local business donations. We would like to recognize the following: Tri-Lakes Printing, Something New Boutique, Arlene’s Beans, Horseshoe Donuts, Broadmoor World Arena, Chick-fil-A Northgate , Mountain High Kettle Corn, Chipotle, City Rock, Costa Vida, Crumbl Cookies, Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, Glowgolf, IHOP InterQuest, Jeff Schmidt—State Farm, Jennifer Clinard Realtor—Front Range Real Estate Professionals, Josh & John’s Ice Cream , Kendra Scott, Lost Island Miniature Golf & Adventure Park, Main Event, Michelle Provencio, Realtor, The Cutting Edge, Realtors, MOD Pizza, Only One You, Overdrive Raceway, PF Chang’s, Qdoba, Raising Cane’s, Scheels, Slim Chickens, Snarf’s sandwiches ,Texas Roadhouse, Top Golf, Torchy’s Tacos, Vibes Baseball, Water World.

We had over 100 volunteers who helped with duties including purchasing prizes, mailing invitations, organizing/transporting/providing food, decorating, working on the night of the event, and cleaning up the day after.

A special thank you goes to the After Prom committee: Lori Benton, Liz Scott, Jenn Clinard, Michelle Provencio, Nicole Pritchard, and Liz Meggett. Many thanks also to our amazing LP Staff led by Principal Bridget O’Connor, Coach Tupper, and

Paul Lugauer.
Michelle Oliger
After Prom Chair, Lewis-Palmer High School

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Letters to Our Community – Protect Fox Run Park from development

The El Paso County Parks and Recreation Department’s decision to construct a multi-million-dollar nature center facility in a remote section of Fox Run Park, with a tower and canopy walk, event room, and a 60-car parking area, will destroy the very qualities that make this small, forested park so special. A news release on the website even says the structure is envisioned as a hub for tourism. The county claims to have done public outreach but made zero effort to include locals who are most directly impacted. If you study the reports on its website, it is obvious that it began with this goal and worked backward to justify it; all decisions were made privately by park and nature center staff/volunteers and its hired design/architecture team.

The feasibility study doesn’t even consider any environmental or wildlife impacts, and the traffic study incredibly claims that there will be no impact on surrounding neighborhoods. All its “public meetings” are just fundraisers, like the one in March at a brewery; a meeting was hurriedly called in February because of local residents’ complaints at having this sprung on us with zero notice or input, but it was clear they had no interest in actually addressing any of our concerns and intended to proceed with this project. Once again, the county commissioners and agencies refuse to listen to citizens who disagree with their zeal to develop all of our increasingly scarce natural resources. If you agree that funding would be better spent on fixing the ponds/gazebo area and existing trails, and that this park should be protected, not developed, please let the county know about your concerns by contacting your county commissioner and parks@elpasoco.com.

Michelle Satterlee

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Letters to Our Community – Environmental disaster looming at Colorado Pumpkin Patch?

An estimated 500 cubic yards of finely ground asphalt millings from the surface of public roads are piled up at the Colorado Pumpkin Patch LLC property on 40 acres of residential-zoned land next to Highway 105 west of Highway 83. These asphalt granules contain cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and likely heavy metals as well as accumulated tire and vehicle brake wear residue and engine exhaust artifacts from years of road use. The asphalt paving industry recycles almost all asphalt millings into new hot rolled asphalt which seals in the contaminants. Unbound (loose) asphalt millings have an incredibly high total surface area through which rain and snow melt percolates, leaching contaminants into the aquifer below. The Pumpkin Patch is surrounded by residences which obtain drinking water from their private wells.

Asphalt piles on residential property
Above: Graphic provided by Dave Ellis.

El Paso County stipulated these asphalt millings are to be spread over acres of virgin pastureland on which hundreds of Pumpkin Patch client vehicles park as well as over one mile of the Patch’s interior dirt roads. This spreading of the asphalt millings, which the county specifies must be done by April 15, 2024, will only accelerate the leaching of contaminants which are ground down to dust size particles by vehicle traffic.

Enlightened jurisdictions strictly prohibit the use of loose asphalt millings as a roadway surface due to its recognized hazards to human health and the environment. Without a paved top surface, its small particles will leach contaminants as well as migrate through the actions of water, wind, and physical displacement. The El Paso County Environmental Health office, in its apparent environmental ignorance, incredibly responded to my complaints in this matter by saying, “No disturbance of the land is taking place.”

Dave Ellis

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Disclaimer: The information and opinions expressed in Letters to Our Community are the responsibility of the letter writers and should not be interpreted as the views of OCN even if the letter writer is an OCN volunteer.

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